Why Tone Of Voice Is Important For Brand Identity
Tone of voice development is essential for branding and should be incorporated into your company’s content strategy.
Creating content isn’t just about what you say, but how you say it. Site copy, email marketing and social media posts, advertisements and posters, should all have a consistent tone of voice that reflects your brand, and says what you want it to say.
Implementing a strong brand tone of voice across all written material enables you to stand out from the crowd. Your content will be recognisable as being your own, and you’ll allow users who have never encountered your brand before to get a feel for who you are, and what you’re about. You might even win over potential customers by being relatable or familiar to them. Every time you talk, write, design, post, respond, and connect with others, you should be exercising your tone of voice branding.
So, what is tone of voice, and why is it so important?
What is tone of voice?
A tone of voice describes how your brand communicates with the audience and influences how your message is perceived. It should reflect your brand’s personality, its goals and values, and areas of expertise. A strong tone of voice will help you to connect with your audience. It should be distinctive, recognisable and unique, to make sure that your message cuts through the mass of digital noise and makes a lasting impression.
Benefits of having a tone of voice
Here are a few reasons to consider investing more time in developing a recognisable tone of voice.
Make your brand human
The most important reason, we reckon, is that people like to connect with people. So, when customers are online looking for a product or service, they’ll also take into consideration which brands have a personality that they recognise and relate to. Having a tone of voice helps to increase the trust and credibility factor with your audience.
Stand out from the crowd
Businesses with a distinctive tone of voice have a better chance of remaining competitive in an overcrowded marketplace. When brands have a distinctive personality and compelling storytelling, they tend to be more successful in securing traffic and conversions, because it engages users. Tone of voice plays a significant role in creating this personality.
Build connections with your users
A positive tone of voice will help customers to connect to a brand, as it makes them feel like the company cares about them. If they find something relatable in your tone of voice that makes them laugh, or reminds them of someone they hold dear in their personal life, they’ll also feel instantly connected to your brand, and you’ll leave a lasting impression.
Increase your revenue
A strong tone of voice, as described already, helps to secure your customers, and subsequently will increase your revenue. Presenting your brand consistently is extremely important and valuable to customers, and this can lead to more sales.
Factors to consider when creating a tone of voice for your company
There are four main elements to consider when creating a consistent tone of voice:
Message
Start with a clear picture of what language you would use, and what you want your audience to remember about your brand. Is your brand aspirational and impressive? Down to earth? Casual and fun? Scientific and clinical? These qualities should come across in your tone of voice to help support your brand. If your messaging appears to change across mediums, it’s harder for users to immediately identify you and know what you’re talking about.
Values
Customers attach themselves to relevant, meaningful values, not stock prices and logos.
They want to feel who you are from the content you produce, who your business is and what it stands for.
This is where your company’s values are important and should be considered when developing a tone of voice.
Audience
Remember, it isn’t all about your brand. You need to understand who your audience is to choose the right language to reach them. Each user will have a short attention span and you’ll have a lot of competition, so your tone of voice needs to be succinct, direct, and to the point to catch them.
Documentation
Have a guide in place to define your brand voice. This can then be used to craft your tone of voice across all forms of communication. A style guide should include a thorough description of your tone of voice and how to go about implementing this.
Custard’s tone of voice
We’ve recently gone through a bit of a rebrand. Yep, we’re really stepping it up, creating a new site – and a top new sound of voice to go along with it.
Our CEO wanted a website that read as though Terry Christian’s dulcet tones were reading it to you on his radio show. We’re a Manc business, based in Manchester, working for businesses in Manchester and beyond. Manchester is quicky becoming one of the biggest digital hotbeds in the country, and we wanted to let everyone know that we were here first.
That’s why we felt it was important to have a distinctively Manc tone of voice – but, as a digital marketing agency, it was also important to make it clear to our users that we know what we’re on about. Striking the balance between cool Manc slang and technical know-how wasn’t easy, but we think we’ve cracked it.
Across our site you’ll find the odd ‘sound’, ‘mint’, or ‘top’ to describe our world-class digital marketing techniques. We could say that we’re ‘exceptional’, ‘outstanding’, or ‘extraordinary’, but that just wouldn’t be us. We’re as authentically Manchester as they come, and we wouldn’t want our users to think of us any other way.
If your brand’s tone of voice isn’t quite cutting the mustard, contact us today for some expert advice. Let’s have it!
